Beth Robinson
Executive Director
As the new Executive Director of Zack’s Place, I’m excited to bring my deep-rooted connection and love for our community into this role. Having lived here for 35 years and raised my children here, I am proud to see them carry on the values this community instilled in them. This personal connection fuels my commitment to our shared goals.
My background is rich with experience, having worked for almost nine years for another local nonprofit, where I witnessed the transformative power of community support. Before that, I spent over 25 years in a local dental practice, starting as a dental assistant and eventually becoming the office manager. I hold a BA in psychology from Castleton University in Vermont. When I’m not working, I enjoy hiking local trails with my black lab, Chance, playing with my grandchildren, and capturing the beauty of our area through photography.
My utmost commitment is to expand opportunities and foster inclusion for everyone we serve. I am eager to work with such a dynamic board and skilled staff. Participation is not just important but crucial to making a significant difference together. Your unique perspectives and contributions are what make our community and organization thrive.
Dail Frates
Retiring Executive Director
Dail Frates, inspired by the love of her stepson, Zack Frates, co-founded Zack’s Place in 2006, together with her husband Norm Frates. Dail graduated from Woodstock Union High School in Vermont in 1976, and thereafter attended Edison State College and the University of South Florida. She enjoyed a long career in the airline industry, first as a station agent and later as a travel agent. She then moved back to the Woodstock area in 2001, where she fell in love with an old high school acquaintance, Norm Frates.They soon married and combined their families which included five children. Dail became a licensed real estate agent in 2002, and enjoyed a successful career selling real estate in the Woodstock and Upper Valley areas.
Subsequent to the of founding ZP, Dail served as a ZP Board Member and Chair of the Fundraising Committee which established three highly successful annual fundraisers to sustain the now IRS approved 501 (c)(3), not-for-profit enrichment center. In 2010 she relinquished her role as a board member and became the interim executive director after a series of rapid turnovers in this position. A few months later, the Board overwhelmingly approved Dail’s permanent role as the executive director. Under her tutelage, the center flourished and participation grew at an incredible rate, now serving over 40 participants. New enrichment programs were introduced, the program day was extended to full time, and interesting and exciting field trips were added to the calendar. Volunteers from the community flocked to the Center as never before to offer their skills and financial support. Dail’s passion and experience as the parent of a special needs child combined to make this enrichment center a truly unique place where, not only people of all ages meet to partake in the varied programs, but where they make real friends both within the ZP family and with the community at large.
Kitty King
Program Director
Kitty King graduated from The University of New Hampshire in 1985, Phi Beta Kappa of Economics. She worked in marketing for financials services and retired in 1995 to have a family. In 1998 Kitty move to Woodstock, VT with her husband John and children Emma and Alex. In her spare time Kitty loves to read, watch movies and go for walks. Kitty began at Zack’s Place in 2012 as a substitute and was hired permanent part-time in 2013 as a Program Director and she is the 2013 Special Olympics Snow Shoe Coach. The ZP participants appreciate her joy and enthusiasm and she enjoys the friendships she has made at Zack’s Place. Her hard work ethic, upbeat attitude, and dependability make her a pleasure to work with.
Doug Phillips
Program Director
Holly O’Brien
Administrative Director
Holly O’Brien graduated from the Westminster school in Simsbury CT in 1982. She attended the university of Vermont from September of 1982, to December of 1983, studying early child and special education. She moved back to her hometown, Hamden CT in the spring of 1984, continuing her education at Southern Connecticut State University and Paier College of Art. She and her husband Nick and their four daughters (Catharine, Lindsay, Courtney and Kelsey) moved to Reading Vermont from Guilford Ct in the spring of 1994, where she and her husband Nick, still reside today. Holly worked for several years as a para educator at the Reading Elementary School along with coaching Soccer, Ice Hockey and lacrosse at the WUMS and WUHS for many years.In 2001, they purchased the South Woodstock Country Store, which Holly ran with her brother Dan Noble, for 15 years, until they sold it in the fall of 2015. It was at this time that she made the connection with Zack’s Place and became a part time program Director, eventually accepting the position as Associate Director, in the spring of 2016. Holly loves working at ZP. It is such an amazing place and she is grateful for all the friendships she has made and for the opportunity to get to work with such a wonderful and special group of people.In her spare time, Holly enjoys the outdoors including hiking, gardening and playing sports, but most of all she loves spending time with her family.